Not gonna dive into the heart of darkness (i.e. endless debate) here, but I will agree that GitS2 is less tightly structured than the first film. That doesn't bother me terribly; with GitS2 the agenda is less to communicate a specific message as to indulge in a stream-of-consciousness musing about a variety of topics. Or, if you want to get more particular, I think the idea of the film is less to forward a specific thesis than to convey a mood. In that respect I believe it succeeds wonderfully, and by jumping off the deep end in terms of stream-of-consciousness craziness it end up, for me, being the most powerful of Oshii's films - the one most driven by emotion, rather than hard logic. (Also, I'm of the impression that the constant philosophy-quoting is meant to be jarring and strange - these characters, living in an exotic future, are obsessed with the past, c.f. their anachronistic vintage cars.)

@Jessemon: When it comes to Rurouni Kenshin, I would recommend reading the manga over watching the anime, because the first season of the anime is an absolute embarrassment. (I've heard the second season was considerably more faithful to the manga, but I haven't seen it, and the third and final arc of the manga didn't even make it into the anime at all.) Since Trust & Betrayal is a prequel you can technically watch it without prior knowledge of the series, but to fully appreciate its nuances and implications you'll want to read up to around volume 21 of the manga (which is when the flashback arc on which the OVA is based begins) or at least watch to the end of the second season in the anime.

Shirow Masamune's works practically exist to be adapted to other mediums. He's a lovely artist and a brilliant world-builder, but a piss-awful storyteller.

Dr. Nick wrote:the GitS 2 manga? Because wat

Shirow broke after surviving the Kobe earthquake, that's what.

GitS:SAC > GitS movies > GitS manga >> GitS MMI manga

All the old gadget fetishism was gone in favour of shiny girls with ugly torpedo tits, which no doubt continue to be a nice little earner for him in their other outings. It wasn't until Ghost Hound and Real Drive that he next did anything that I'd give time of day for.

I thought the heavy quoting was to show how communication is affected by their cyberbrain implants. It's like internet arguments where people just copy-paste their google results at each other. GitS SAC did the same thing in the final episode when Aramaki was unable to follow a conversation between the Major and the Laughing Man due to not being connected to the net (...at least I think this happened, in the final episode when they meet him in library)

Not that this makes the film any better.

gatotsu911 wrote:Shirow Masamune's works practically exist to be adapted to other mediums. He's a lovely artist and a brilliant world-builder, but a piss-awful storyteller.

How much I have to agree with that :) I really love his character design (which imho became less adorable in later tv and movie adapation - some may like the more gritty design in the anime though). His earlier stories of M66 and Appleseed were quite entertaining, and I enjoyed the never-adapted-for-anime Orion manga a lot, but his world got really complex that he seemed to lose all control over what he wants to say after he started telling the story :)

Noriko is my wife wrote:I thought the heavy quoting was to show how communication is affected by their cyberbrain implants. It's like internet arguments where people just copy-paste their google results at each other.

I'd actually never thought of it like that, but that makes a lot of sense. There's even that one scene in the film where Batou compares their conversation with Haraway to a forum squabble.

Whatever the reasoning may be, I do believe the quotation overkill was intentional. I would find it hilarious if not for the fact that every other element of the film falls into place so gorgeously.

My other favorite animes include:

Trigun
Ghost in the Shell
Robotech
Angel Beats!
FLCL
X/1999
Dirty Pair

Some of my other favorite anime:

• Full Metal Alchemist (Brotherhood and the first series)
  
• Ghost in the Shell (S.A.C. and 2ng GIG)
  
• Azumanga Daioh
  
• Wolf's Rain
  
• Code Geass
  
• Blood+
  
• D.N.Angel
  
• Tenchi Universe / Tenchi in Tokyo

Basically (unfortunately?) a lot of what I watch comes from Adult Swim, and the others come from either early Toonami or Anime Network On Demand.

Usually I have one favorite anime for a while, until I go through another blitz every six or so months and find a new one (Neon Genesis Evangelion is that new one):
Ouran High School Host Club
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya/The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya
Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion
Black Butler
Neon Genesis Evangelion/End of Evangelion

No particular order.

Xous wrote:Basically (unfortunately?) a lot of what I watch comes from Adult Swim, and the others come from either early Toonami or Anime Network On Demand.

That's not really very unfortunate, seeing as Toonami (R.I.P.) and Adult Swim have had a pretty top-notch selection of anime over the years. Nowadays, of course...

Well the only other series where I have a super nerdgasum is gundam.

Other series I really like:

Full metal alchemist brotherhood
The Macross series
Code Geass (season 1)
Bleach (manga)
Death Note

Mr. Tines wrote:It wasn't until Ghost Hound and Real Drive that he next did anything that I'd give time of day for.

Professor, you do realize that she's not of age, right?

I wouldn't have guessed that you liked them on the plump side, though.

gatotsu911 wrote:@Jessemon: When it comes to Rurouni Kenshin, I would recommend reading the manga over watching the anime, because the first season of the anime is an absolute embarrassment. (I've heard the second season was considerably more faithful to the manga, but I haven't seen it,

Have you by chance see any of the promos narrated by Peter Cullen? Samurais and Robots, I know that concept must have happened along the line, but I seem to be blocking it out for some reaso— Oh right, G Gundam... Wait a minute, I love that show!

@Topic:

FLAG

GTO

Lupin III Part II

Evangelimon

Vampire Hunter D

The Cockpit

Grave of the Fireflies

Alaska Slim wrote:Professor, you do realize that she's not of age, right?
I wouldn't have guessed that you liked them on the plump side, though

Should I be flattered that you didn't first think of the shrine loli who confessed to having had strange people come inside her?

Also

Mr. Tines wrote:Should I be flattered that you didn't first think of the shrine loli who confessed to having had strange people come inside her?

Never seen Ghost Hound, or at least, not all the way through, and from what I read, she's not an oyajicon like the heroine of Real Drive.

I'm also picturing that, since watching the latter, you've been hanging out around large bodies of water, on the forlorn hope it can...

Initial D got me into anime, and ultimately led me to Evangelion. I also like Gurren Lagann - it's just pure, batshit crazy goodness.

Ghost in the Shell
Serial Experiments Lain
School Days
Death Note
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
Lucky Star
Grave of the Fireflies
Princess Mononoke
Howl's Moving Castle

I like Lucky Star, Hetalia, FLCL, Haruhi, Cowboy Bebop, Azumanga Daioh, Shinryaku! Ika Musume, and Minami-ke.

also hanamaru kindergarten

that shit gave me diabeetus

other anime I like besides eva are as follows.
bakemono gatari
Boogiepop Phantom
Clannad: After Story
Darker than Black
gintama
gundam
FLCl
fate series
hayate no gotoku"season one"
Whisper of the Heart
hetalia
gurren laggan
Welcome to the NHK
to name a few.

Other anime/manga I like:

Gurren Lagann (Pure crazy badass)
One Piece, the manga; I don't watch the anime (It's kinda ridiculous [s:3c7fcvq9]sometimes[/s:3c7fcvq9] usually, but it's good fun)
Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt (Guilty pleasure and awesome art)
Cowboy Bebop (What can I say? It has Spike Spiegel!)
Revolutionary Girl Utena (Feminism! Lesbians! Weird imagery! Three of my favorite things...combined!)
Fullmetal Alchemist, the manga and Brotherhood (Detailed plot, lovely art)
Dragon Ball/Z, the manga (My very first venture into the world of anime and manga)
FLCL (The first time I saw it, I didn't like it. The second, it found its way into that cold and dead thing that is my heart)
Rurouni Kenshin (Because it's awesome. And people spontaneously combust)

If anybody has any recommendations, I'm all for trying other series.

Hmm. This will be a hard list to make as it's hard to chose favorites but I guess my list is as follows.

Fullmetal Panic!
.hack//SIGN (pretty much the one show that got me into anime)
Ghost In The Shell
Elfen Lied
Cowboy Bebop
FLCL
Rahxephon (A little bit TOO much like evangelion but hey)
Code Geass
Fullmetal Alchemist : Brotherhood (wasnt really that huge a fan of the original anime)
and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

My other favorite animes include Gurren Lagann, Akira, FLCL, FMA, anything by Studio Ghibli, and Tiger & Bunny. Too lazy to list more